Spetisbury Auxiliary Unit Hide, Dorset

There is no need to visit this site as you will see by the pictures it is damaged beyond repair.

 

Looking at Charlton Hill Coppice from the road. History: Trained by the military to use guerrilla tactics against enemy forces, these units were to go behind the Germans when they inevitably headed inland and carry out pin-prick attacks to impede their advance. The war cabinet announced in July 1940: 'The regular defences require supplemented with guerrilla type troops, who will allow themselves to be overrun and who thereafter will be responsible for hitting the enemy in the comparatively soft spots behind zones of concentrated attack'. Then the prime minister Winston Churchill told politician Anthony Eden on 25 September 1940: 'From what I hear these units are being organised with thoroughness and imagination and should, in the event of invasion, prove a useful addition to the regular forces'. (Daily Mail online).

This is it, sorry it has been damaged beyond repair and only the centre piece of corrugated iron roof in place and a couple of drain pipe air vents. History: The men manning the hides were very well armed, equipped and trained. They had the latest Thompson sub-machine guns, plastic explosives, etc., and were also trained in unarmed combat. Being Game Keepers, Farm Labourer's, country men, etc.,they all knew the area very well and could blend into the country side.

Centre sitting: Maurice Arbon Tory 16 Dec 1920 - 2001 Sgt Patrol Leader. Others: Walter Strange John Bugg. Reg Goddard. A Little. Gilbert Snook. Henry Spicer. Jim Strange. I knew Maurice Tory in his older age around 1980, you would never have known this part of his history. But if known I could have easily seen him fitting in well with it. Out at night patrolling the countryside. He lived in South Farm. South of Spetisbury and an area sparsely populated and they could have come and gone without being seen very easily. They would watch the main Salisbury to Dorchester Road, the Poole to Shaftesbury and the Bournemouth to Bristol railway line.

In 2006 just a depression in the ground. When the war ended, the Royal Engineers went around and disarmed the bases and removed all the explosives, ammunition and in a lot of cases filled them in.

A closer look into the centre.

They had very ingenious methods of entering and exiting, they made sure they left no marks in the ground and carefully covered their tracks.

The view from the edge of the coppice out towards the Dorchester road. From here they could have watched military convoys and also communicated the information to their respective Head Quarters. After Dunkirk the British forces were under no illusions as to the capability of the then German army and how week the British were.